As Destiny May Have It
by Rin-Rin Yu Die
Summary: Love bloomed over a chance meeting at the mall and followed Sesshomaru home to Kyoto.


**As Destiny May Have It**

He knew he was forgetting something. However, what he was forgetting escaped him. Was it his keys or his wallet? He checked, they were still there. Hmm, he looked in his wallet and found two twenties and three ones. He still had money. He reached into his back pocket and fished out his smartphone. He tapped a few buttons and got to the calendar. Ah, that was it. The calendar was marked with something.

_Kagura's birthday._

Of course, of all the things he did when he found out Kagura had been cheating on him, he forgot to delete her birthday out of his phone. He'd burnt photos, sent clothing and furniture she'd left behind to used goods stores, and changed everything online the signalled he was in a relationship with the woman. Yet he forgot to take her out of his phone.

Sighing, he deleted the event.

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and continued walking down the mall. He passed stores he'd never go into even if his life depended on it, passed people that smelled of rotting eggs and soured milk, and passed a couple of teenage couples. He passed the ice rank, his golden eyes momentarily glancing out them. The few good ice skaters held little for him to want a pay attention too but the people falling on the rumps, the little kids holding onto the wall like it was a lifeline, the gangly looking teenagers going too fast and crashing when they were supposed to turn. Those were the people his eyes swept too. They were the one his inwardly chuckled at. Fools, he thought.

He reached the escalator that headed to the second floor and stepped on. A women wearing a brown over coat stood two steps up from him. It wasn't a long over coat, only reaching mid-thigh. She had nice, toned legs. She wore pristine white socks and tennis shoes that matched the pristine white of her socks. Her black-blue hair was held in a neat bun high on her head.

He got off the escalator and went towards the one that headed to the third floor where the food court was settled. The women fell behind him but by the little clomps her shoes made, he knew she was following. Whatever.

Once he reached the noisy, crowded food court, he went to the one restaurant the served Japanese food and ordered some sushi. Though he would've preferred something a little classier, it was that or yakisoba noodles which though he liked, he preferred only to eat those in the comfort of his own apartment. The woman got in line behind him and ordered yakisoba noodles. Whatever, he thought. Japanese-American, probably grew up on some Japanese food but none of the good stuff.

Looking for a table was harder than it should've been. He could only find one meant for two people and none for four. That's what you get for coming at noon, he thought dryly. He began to eat the food, noting that it was alright but that he could do much better when the woman from the escalator came to stand next to his table.

"Can I have this seat?" she said in a surprisingly high tone.

He nodded, a lock of silver hair falling in front of his shoulder. He set his chopsticks down and tucked it back behind his shoulder.

He found very quickly on that she was a loquacious type of person. She asked him lots of questions he answered in one or two words. Job: chef. Relationship status: single. Name: Sesshomaru. He found it annoying, him being the exact opposite of her but rolled with it.

Although the girl, Kagome, had asked him much about himself, she told him very little about himself. Nothing about why she was there today even though she asked him the same question, nothing about her relationship status, nothing really about her except for her name and a few minor details like how she believe in destiny and was raised Shinto. Although it meant it cut down the time in which he spent talking to her, he still felt it odd that she kept herself in such mystery. Did she think it made her more attractive than she really was? Was she just nervous that he would think that she was stupid?

She looked at her watch for the fortieth since she'd sat down with him. Was he boring or something? No, he warned himself, it's not that, she's just got something to do.

"Hey, I have to go now."

She got up, the chair scraping against the cheap tile floor as she pushed it in and out. Her tray made a scraping sound as well as she pulled it off the table.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm in the competition today." She smiled brightly at him. "You should come down and watch. It's at two but I have to be there thirty minutes prior."

He watched her as she dumped her plastic tray and practically bounced out of the food court. Once, her coat bounced over her outfit, revealing the very revealing, sparkly green dress common of ice skaters. She slipped out of sight quickly, leaving him pondering whether he should go down and watch Kagome or not. He was on vacation, he thought, might as well take in show while I'm here.

He took a slurp out of his Pepsi before looking at his watch. One twenty eight, he still had awhile to go.

He sat on one of the hard wooden benches made of plywood. Around him he heard the soft murmurs and hushed whispers of excited fans. The spoke in quite tones about who was most likely to win. He heard Kagome's name brought up a lot, alerting him to the fact that she was not only a fan favourite but also a good skater. Well, no wonder she invited him. Cheeky vixen.

A little girl, perhaps ten or so sat down beside him, holding a doll that seemed to be made by hand. He childishly large brown eyes shimmered with joy and zeal. He wrote her off instantly as a little ice-skater protégée told by her teacher to watch the professionals and learn from them.

"Mister, my sisters competing in this."

Or she was the family member of one of the contestants. Of course, that made more logical sense. He just wasn't used to having family members rooting for each other. Ah, the wonders of a dysfunctional family.

"Who's your sister?"

She turned her smiling face to him, a small ponytail on the side of her head bouncing a little.

"Kagome! See this doll, she made it for me. Sometimes she takes me skating with her but normally I just end up on the side-lines watching her do all the spins and jumps and think it's just so pretty. And her belief in destiny is so-"

She continued talking but Sesshomaru stopped paying attention. She certainly adopted her older sister's chatty personality. Wonderful, trade one talkative being for another. Sighing, he rested his chin in the palm of his calloused hand.

Then the maddening chatter of the crowds came to a halt. Some sucked in their breath, others exhaled giddily. The little girl beside him held her doll tighter with enthusiasm. His golden eyes lazily focused on the sitting area behind the rink where the contestants waited anxiously for their turn.

The first one stepped on and within seven seconds, she fell flat on her face.

The crowd gasped. He heard one no, probably from someone who'd bet on her winning. He heard a chuckle from someone who'd probably bet against her and a yes from one of the waiting contestants. The child released a breath he hadn't realized she'd been holding.

He gave the girl props for trying and also getting back on her skates, even catching up with timing of the music but from the cringes on the judges faces, she wasn't winning. He could see why too, even if she could get back with the music, her movements were clunky and wrong, forced really. She didn't live it and no emotion radiated from it. Poor thing really was trying but trying came nowhere close to winning.

The man after her was better, a certainly made a couple girls squirm in their seats, intoxicated grins on their faces. The girl beside him was chewing on her lip.

"That's Mark Machino, he's really good. Kagome's lost to him before but he's already made a mistake. He prepared himself for a triple turn but only did a double. I saw one of the judges faces and they weren't happy when he did it. But I only saw one so I think it's possible that the others didn't notice. If you haven't noticed, he puts a lot into his dances, personality wise and with a ton of complicated steps."

Sesshomaru had noticed the complicated looking steps. He'd also noticed the personality and flare he added to the deep tango music.

He bowed and the crowd roared. Some even gave him a standing ovation. Someone yelled encore and another one hissed a string of cuss words.

It continued that for a while, a few bad ones mixed in with a couple good ones the girl made commentary on. However, he was waiting eagerly for Kagome to enter the rink.

And when she did, he wasn't disappointed.

She was on a whole other level from Machino. He was like a pesky bug in comparison to her godly movements. The music she chose, Moonlight by Beethoven, fit the mood her routine gave perfectly. And Kagome's facial expressions, had they been food, would have been the perfect dish. The jumped at him and pulled at the strings of his heart. Her dance, if it spoke, would've spoke of all the hard times and all the things she was passionate about as well, from destiny to ice-skates, it would've told it all.

When she bowed, for the first time, he really clapped. The little girl screamed her praise along with the rest of the crowd. The judges grinned ear to ear and more than one encore could be heard. It seemed that Kagome had this competition in the bag.

And she did. When they announced the winners, third place going to one of the good ones, second to Machino, and first to Kagome by a landslide. Just like her skating, she was very expressive upon receiving this. Tears of gratitude sprung to her eyes, turning her face blotchy and red. She smiled, attempted to give a thank-you speech, only to be hindered by hiccupping. She laughed along with the people, said a very emotional thank you and exited the rink.

The Zamboni came out at the time, effectively dispersing the vocal crowd. The little girl got up to, excited to see her winning sister and forgetting her doll on the bench. He tried calling out to her retreating form but failed to catch her attention.

He scooped up the precious doll and followed in the direction the girl had gone. He assumed she'd headed around to the entrance of the ice rink where she was greeting a sweaty sister. He waited for them to be done hugging before approaching. Both sets of female eyes met his, one grey-blue and the other chocolate brown.

"Here," he said, handing the little girl the doll. The little girl blushed, accepting her toy while also burying her head in her sister's side.

"Rin, what do you say?"

The girl blushed further but murmured a thank you to appease her sister. He smiled at the girl and she smiled back. Kagome smiled too, thanking him for watching over her little sister.

"She's smart."

"Ah, she's just been to a million of these before."

"Kagome," she whined, bored with her sister's conversation, "you promised to take me to shopping. I need new clothing for school."

Kagome sighed, smiled at Sesshomaru and uttered a goodbye before leading her sister away, chastising her at the same time. It was heart-warming to see the sisters' relationship, something he'd never had with his own brother.

Sesshomaru shook his head and pulled his phone from his pocket, looking at the time. Four-thirty. Inuyasha had a date at seven so that would mean he could stay at the noisy mall for another two and a half hours or return home to his half-brother's insistent complaining. Sesshomaru sighed, deciding for once that his brother would be a better option.

* * *

"Inuyasha, you don't even support me in my skating! You don't do anything for me yet you expect me to not take this once and lifetime opportunity just because it's in Japan?!" The sound of a woman's screaming came through his door along with the front door being slammed shut.

"What about Rin?" his brother yelled angrily.

"She would love to go to Japan! She's said it herself many times, even saying it's destiny! Yes, it'll be hard but will manage!"

"But what about us?! Huh? You know that's exactly how me and Kikyou split!"

Sesshomaru opened his door, not caring about the sound it made. In his hand was one of his bed pillows he planned to chuck at Inuyasha for coming in at two in the morning, screaming his lungs off. He did, not realizing who the woman standing a couple feet away from him.

"I was sleeping…" Sesshomaru glanced at his brother's female companion, surprise etched into his face. Surprise was also etched into hers as she recognized the man she'd had lunch with today and invited to her performance.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sesshomaru said, turning his attention away from Kagome and back to his annoying brother. "You woke me up."

"I'm sorry your precious beauty sleep was disturbed but this ain't your fight!"

"Quiet down and I'll keep out of the matter." Sesshomaru dodged his brother's sloppy through, grabbing the pillow with his right hand.

"You know what Inuyasha," Kagome said quietly though still angrily. "It's over. I'm going to Japan and that's destiny."

She left, leaving a fuming, confused ex and a tired, grumpy acquaintance.

"Damn it," Inuyasha hissed. He turned to his brother, a murderous glint to his eyes. "You made me lose her!"

"She's was lost to begin with."

* * *

It was time to return home and Sesshomaru was happier than ever. Though Portland had been a nice a retreat, his brother had soured things and Sesshomaru had to admit, he was also suffering a little from homesickness. No matter how much he hated having to say it, he wanted to be surrounded by nature, not cars. Shoji, not brick. Gion, instead of strip clubs. He wanted to return to Kyoto and now all that stood in his way was an airport and an airplane ride across the pacific.

Security was a breeze. Though it was tedious, it went by quick enough and without any delays. He was done and out of there with two hours to spare before boarding. He looked around. Besides the rising sun filtering through the huge windows, only blocked out by large planes, there was a Starbucks, a Made in Oregon shop, some other restaurant, a few various stores and Powells. That would do.

He walked into the dimly lit shop, hoping to find a read or two for the flight. Mystery or horror, that was the question. He bent down to get a look at the numerous Stephan King books only to be bumped into. He looked up, a natural reaction to find who'd accidentally assaulted his being, only to find the sharp face of Kagome.

"Oh, fancy meeting you here!" She smiled, a hand reaching behind her head to scratch at the nape of her neck. "You know, they see if you meet a person three times incidentally, it's no longer a coincidence but fate. What do you think?"

"It may very well be truth but I do believe it's a coincidence that we're taking the same flight."

"Oh." She blushed brightly. "Ha, you're going to Japan as well?"

"Inuyasha is my half-brother and I only stayed with him to save money. I live in Kyoto."

"Guess you'll have to show me and Rin around sometime since we're gonna be living there too."

"Perhaps."

Yes, it seemed more than coincidence now that Sesshomaru ended up seated next to the two ladies. Rin sat in the aisle seat and Kagome was smashed in between her little sister and him in the window seat. Rin fell asleep within thirty minutes of boarding the plane, her small head using Kagome as a pillow. From the amount of wriggling the sleeping girl did, he assumed the ice-skater wasn't the comfiest of cushions.

Said lady had pulled out a romance novel, and judging from the cover, an erotic romance too. Wonderful, he thought, I'm going to be preoccupied with smells all day long. Perhaps a good horror would be able to keep his attention away from a woman crossing and uncrossing her legs all flight long.

He pulled out the book he'd bought and jumped into it from the front page. Not the best hook but as he found himself becoming more and more invested in the plot, the characters and the emotional battles, and the small scares along with the looming bad guy, he found himself feeling things he only ever felt when reading books.

Then he came to the scene where the main character and his lover say their final 'goodbye'. Probably five thousand words of pure purple prose and sex. Great way to throw the cold man out of the story and get him to spend more attention to the woman biting her lip beside him.

Rin had woken up by this time and had pulled out a hand-held console. If the pixels visible to him were any indication, she was playing a Pokémon game.

He glanced towards the window, the book all but forgotten in his lap. The blue ocean spanned as far as he could see. Ocean so blue, so desolate. Too think that below its water laid a whole new oasis of sea life. He sighed, turning his attention back to Kagome.

Her dark hair spilled of her shoulder, almost acting as a curtain between him and her. Almost on instinct, his hand reached forward and pulled her raven locks away, revealing to him her face. Her partially parted lips, her wide eyes, the small nose. She was so beautiful in that moment.

He could've kissed her. And he would've if it hadn't been for the very public space they were in.

* * *

She came calling a few days later, her bouncy little sister in tow. He'd been setting on the porch when she came, his haori hanging open partially. The heat had driven him outside and reminded him to buy an electric fan. For now, he'd settle with fanning himself with a traditional hand fan on the apartments' porch.

Her eyes were wide, excitement and curiosity shining in their grey-blue depths. Rin's little brown eyes sparkled with happiness. Both of their mouths hung open a little at the sight of his house. What? Did they expect some fancy loft? It was just a traditional Japanese apartment building.

"Hey," she said, finally noting his presence. She smiled at him, walking up the path to sit on the porch beside them. Rin half-jogged, half-skipped behind her.

"Hi Sesshomaru!"

"Here in Japan, people refer to each other with honorifics, Rin-chan."

The little girl smiled at him, blush evident on her cheeks.

"Sorry Sesshomaru-san."

Kagome rolled her eyes, lightly punching him in the shoulder. She laughed as she did, the sound music to his ears.

"Lighten up, she'd just a kid."

"Being a child is no excuse for being disrespectful."

Kagome rolled her eyes again and pinched his nose. He glared the offending fingers, his golden eyes crossing in the process. It was an action meant to be scary, meant to warn her away from his being but all it managed to do was make both women laugh harder.

When they settled down again, Rin's stomach growled. She blushed cherry red and looked at her older sister. Kagome gave her sad eyes in return before looking at Sesshomaru. It was obvious from her face that she was going to say farewell. He stopped her before she could.

"As destiny may have, I'm a chef. Remember?"

They went up to his apartment, the two girls settling in at his table. He went about the process of fixing food, unaware of his companies conversation.

"Sister, do you like Sesshomaru-san?"

Kagome turned bright red, instantly wondering if she'd been so obvious.

"Sesshomaru-san seems to like you."

Nope, just Rin being her very observing self as always.

Before Kagome could reply, Sesshomaru came back out with food. It looked positively delicious and the two girls instantly dug into the food. Sesshomaru shook his head at their lack of tables manners as the wolfed down his food like two starved pigs.

"That was wonderful," Kagome said, resting her hand on her belly.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-san." Rin smiled at him. Before the two adults had a chance, she grabbed the plates and took them to the kitchen, leaving her sister and Sesshomaru alone.

"Thanks for having us over."

"It would be my pleasure to have you over again."

She smiled at him, scooting her hand over to rest on top of his. "I think destiny would say yes. But I'll say yes anyways."

"Alone?" His golden eyes shimmered with mischievousness.

"Wouldn't have it any other way.

**Finis**


End file.
